


Incision

by juliesioux



Series: Exploring the Future [7]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Healing, Humour, Love, Sensuality, Sex, a bit smutty, olicity - Freeform, sensual touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 15:46:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5592022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juliesioux/pseuds/juliesioux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is just a quick drabble about Oliver and Felicity post episode 4x09 and possibly as far as 4x10-11.<br/>It is about how Oliver helps Felicity feel like she is home in her skin again. He knows how trauma affected the way he looked at his body and how he felt in his skin and he sees Felicity struggling to reconnect to herself. </p><p>He uses humour, love, food and sensual touch to help ground her.<br/>I marked this explicit but is just a bit smutty not a lot smutty.</p><p>I was partly inspired by Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin.<br/>You can see some of it near the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Incision

**Incision**

 

_he was playful_

_and content_

_to let the sunrise happen in her eyes_

 

Felicity had nights where she quietly paced the floors of the loft as though chasing sleep while Oliver slumbered and dreamt. She wasn’t in pain, reliving the attack in the limo or dwelling on the implications of her long term rehabilitation or how their lives had taken such a hard right turn. No, it wasn’t something that straightforward. She could live with the nightmares, the pain was less and less each day from her wounds and adjusting to her new reality as the days ticked slowly by.

These were all realities that she had context for, that she had figured out how to work through alone and with Oliver. They were both doing what they needed to do to figure out how to move forward together as the team they had become. No, what was keeping her up was something she had no frame of reference for, she had no context on how to begin explaining it to Oliver or even her mom, who knew something was wrong but was keeping her distance, allowing Felicity the space to figure it out.

Her emotions were resting on top of her skin. She felt like she was electrified, constantly bristling with energy and emotion. The quiet night pacing helped her think and quieted her mind and body. For the first time in their relationship, it was Oliver who was able to sleep through the night while it was she who was tormented

If she had to name what was causing her so many sleepless nights, she would say it was that her still healing wound itched both internally and externally at night and moving around helped ease the irritation. But the reason went deeper than that. She felt like she was wearing her skin, not living in it. Like she was just a visitor wearing a costume.

Oliver would wake up in the morning, sometimes just as the sun crested the horizon creating a ribbon of fire along the curve of the earth, and he would find her sitting quietly in front of the fire. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee would pull her from the depths of the woolen blanket she was more often than not wrapped in with a happy sigh. Smiling, she would greet the day with Oliver and this quiet acknowledgement of his love for her.

She loved him, deeply and truly, but this particular issue was hers and hers alone to figure out. Or so she thought. She knew he was worried but he masked it well as he gave her the space she needed to process what was going on inside her. She has undergone a major physical and emotional ordeal and was still adjusting to her new reality.

The nights will become easier, she thought, and I’ll be able to sleep without feeling the need to flee from the confines of my body. One night.

______________________________________________________________________

 

Oliver understood that the process she was undergoing, he understood the inner struggle she was going through. Her basic understanding of her body was different now. It had been altered and changed. Marked by a kind of violence usually kept for soldiers in the ravages of war.

Felicity was the strongest person he had ever known and that was saying something given the world they lived in. She had accepted the change in her body with a kind of grace that humbled him. He had been shot, stabbed, whipped, burned, bitten by a shark and he withstood the pain because he had to. His life was one of survival and violence and he either faced it or he dealt it out. But he never welcomed the scars, they were simply part of his overall story or suffering that he had to go through.

But he had watched her when she thought he couldn’t see her and how she was treating her body. She would study the bullet wound scar and the longer incision, which had been made so the surgeons could fix her damaged organs and extract the pieces of the shattered bullet, with a reverence usually reserved for her computers. But she rarely touched them unless it was to apply Mederma to her scar.

One night, a couple of weeks after she had returned home, they had lain in bed with their limbs and fingers entwined quietly talking about what their future could hold. Felicity had her head resting on his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat, her most favourite sound, and he could feel her warm breath on his chest. He had wanted her then with a desire so intense it left him breathless but she pushed a firm hand to his chest and asked him to wait, just for a little while longer.

“Ok,” he had said, “when you are ready.”

“Thank you,” came her quiet reply.

It was after this moment that she began her nocturnal wanderings. She thought he didn’t know just how often she left their bed for the emptiness of the hallways and living room. The first few times he had followed her, concern for her overriding any desire to give her space, and felt a fist of sadness take hold deep within him as he watched her wander from room to room as though trying to hide from sleep.

She began to wear sweaters over top of her dresses and blouses. At night, she would wear one of his white shirts to bed instead of her normal tank top and shorts. Then he noticed that her floor length mirror was often covered with her bathrobe or a towel after her shower. She also started to shower with the door closed or locked, preventing him from joining her.

After a week of her drifting so dangerously away from him, he decided to quietly take action by doing small things to show her the way back. He made coffee in the morning, accompanied by bacon and pancakes or waffles. If they had time, he would drag out her favourite cereal, which he loathed as it was just coloured sugar nuggets, and they would sit by the fire and just enjoy the solitude before reentering their chaotic world.

Then...he got an idea.

______________________________________________________________________

 

Felicity entered the quiet loft and called out, “Oliver? You home?”

They had parted ways earlier that day, him to his mayoral campaign office and her to a quarterly meeting the Board of Palmer Tech. She would have much rather have faced Darhk alone with just a toothpick to protect her, but as CEO she had to do it.

“It’s like taking one for the team,” she had said earlier that day, “if I want people to keep their jobs, I need to face the firing squad...well, not an actual firing squad, but a group of people who want me to fail so they can fire people who have families to provide for and -”

Oliver cut her off with a much needed kiss. She could have let go and lost herself in that kiss, in him, but not just yet. As if he could feel her pulling back, Oliver broke the kiss and said, “I know what you meant, hon, now go get ‘em.”

Laughing, she had left for the day feeling like maybe, just maybe, she could be the CEO that Palmer Tech needed and deserved. The meeting was a disaster but a workable one. Things would be rough for a while but the company was rebounding, much to the Board’s chagrin.

Now all she wanted was something to eat, a glass of red wine, a hot bath and some cuddle time with her fiance. Not necessarily in that order, she thought, well, the food first would be good, I am starving!

“Oliver?” she called again, “please tell me you are home and made dinner so I don’t have to go to Big Belly Burger...again.”

It was after depositing her keys in the ceramic bowl they had picked up on their trip in Positano, that she noticed all the candles. They were lit in an obvious path up the stairs and into their bedroom.

 

“Well, this is a definite fire hazard,” she called out, “You do know that the loft is outfitted with a LOT of wood, right? Especially the stairs!”

This time she heard a muffled laugh from deep within their bedroom. Narrowing her eyes, she picked them up one by one and blew them out as she made her way to the bedroom.

“If the fire alarm goes off, you will have to climb the ladder to turn it off,” she mumbled loudly, “the last time I set it off you were training with John and the firemen that came, WHO WERE HOT, were clearly amused that my cooking could create that much smoke.”

“Wait. Hot? You never said they were hot.”

“Well, they ARE firemen.”

“Felicity…” came the fake growl.

 

Laughing, she rounded the corner of the doorway and stepped into their bedroom, fully expecting to see him completely naked on the bed, but instead was greeted by a bedroom transformed into something close to magical.

Oliver had strung tiny white lights through and around newly hung sheer curtains bathing the entire room in a soft, golden glow. He had lit small votive candles on most of the flat surfaces in the room and yes, he had dinner waiting for her. She felt tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she surveyed all the ways that Oliver was telling her that he loved her.

“So, is all this for me?” she asked almost shyly.

“Well...it’s not for your hot firemen friends…,” he gently teased.

Laughing, she reached out her hands to him and drew him into a tight embrace.

“No, seriously, why?” she asked, “Oh my God! Did I miss an anniversary date?”

“No, but I do have something I want to celebrate with you.”

“I like celebrations,” she smiled up at him.

“I know, go eat your dinner,” he chuckled.

“Yes, sir!” she said as she crossed over to the covered dish.

 

He watched her closely to see what she would do when she uncovered her favourite combo from Big Belly Burger. What she did was grow very still before turning towards him with the largest smile he had seen on her face since she woke up from her coma.

“Oliver, I love you,” she sighed, “Now come over here and help me eat this.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Oliver said, happy to dig in.

“How did the meeting go? Did you manage to convince them to back off?”

“Yup! They will stop asking for reports on the game changing tech that doesn’t exist yet and maybe never will,” she said with fake cheer, “Oliver, I don’t know how I can save the company if Curtis and I don’t think of something and soon.”

“Felicity,” Oliver said as he reached across to wipe a smear of ketchup from her chin, “you and Curtis have the combined IQ of a small nation, you can and will do this.

All she could was smile at his unwavering belief in her. She hoped she could deliver to the board but more than that she wanted to prove to herself that she could save the company not because of Oliver’s belief in her, but for him. This company was still very much indebted to the work of his father, his mother and Walter.

 

“So, what’s all this for?” she asked after finishing her burger.

“It’s for you,” he said quietly, “I wanted to show you something wonderful.”

 

With that, he got up, pulled her to her feet and walked her into the centre of the darkened room. Now she was immensely curious as to what he had in store. If there was one thing she had learned about Oliver, it was that he loved to surprise her and that he was very, very good at it.

 

“Close your eyes,” he said and waited for her to comply, “now turn around.”

Carefully, she did as told, hearing a soft click to her left as she did, and felt the comforting weight of his hands on her shoulders, his thumbs gently tracing the shape of her shoulders through her sweater. She shivered ever so slightly at his touch.

“Ok, now open your eyes.”

What she saw was more than a surprise. It took her breath away but it also puzzled her and made her slightly wary.

 

“Why...why did you string all those lights around my mirror?” she asked in her quietest of voices.

“I wanted to show you how beautiful I think you are,” he answered just as quietly. He had felt her body tense ever so slightly and knew he had only a moment to calm her nerves and have her continue the journey he was about to take her on.

Gently, he slipped his fingers under the collar of her sweater and eased it off her shoulders and down her arms.

“It took me a while to admit it to myself,” he began, “but when I finally did, the reality of you, a life with you, a future with you became the only thing that mattered to me. Being the mayor of Star City matters to me, being the Green Arrow matters to me, being a good brother matters to me, but you...none of it matters or means anything without you.”

She was trembling against him ever so slightly but her eyes were glued to his via their reflections in the mirror. Her eyes were wide and luminous as she watched him slowly remove her sweater which, if she were honest, was too warm to worn inside. She could feel the gentle rise and fall of his chest behind her and the musky scent that was simply him and felt a slow rising heat in her blood.

 

“Nothing could ever change how I feel about you, Felicity,” his voice was suddenly thick with emotion, “I love you as you are, for who you are now and in the future. I...I hope that you know that.”

In answer, Felicity turned and took his face in her hands, pausing for just a moment to hold his gaze, before pulling him down so she could kiss him. He needed no more encouragement and opened to her gentle proddings, twisting his tongue around hers, only breaking away when he sensed a small shift in her.

 

“Come with me,” he whispered in her ear.

“Another surprise?” she murmured against his neck.

“ Maybe…,” he chuckled as he lead her to their shared bed.

 

Gently, she let herself be pulled down onto the bed beside him, pulling the woolen blanket they used on chilly nights over them as she did. She snuggled in next to him and felt him sigh softly. We fit together so perfectly, she thought, I wish we hadn’t waited so long to find each other.

Slowly, Oliver shifted his position so that he was facing her.

 

“Hey!” she said in mock disappointment, “I prefer to use your chest as a pillow and not my actual pillow as a pillow.”

“Yeah, but I prefer it when you drool on your pillow when you fall asleep and not my chest,” he laughed as he blocked her sad attempt at a poke.

 

Propping herself up on her elbow, Felicity looked at him and asked, “Ok, Mr. Queen, what is it you really have up your sleeve?”

 

She watched him closely for a sign as to what was coming but his face was unreadable.

Was he hesitating? she wondered. Is he...nervous?

 

“I’ve noticed that you seem a bit...hesitant with being undressed in front of me,” he began while slowly tracing the shape of her face with his fingertip, “that you lock the door on occasion when you shower.”

“I...it’s not you, Oliver…,” she stammered, moving her face into the palm of his hand.

“I know, I know,” he said gently, continuing to trace her face, neck and shoulder with his fingertips, “I want you to know that I am not taking it personally. I know...I know what it feels like to have your body altered. To suddenly feel different in your skin because it has been changed.”

 

Felicity closed her eyes at this, fighting to control the tears she knew were forming, or course he knew how she was feeling. This beautiful man knew and was patiently leading her back to him. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and relaxed under his touch.

 

“I want you to feel comfortable but more than that, I want you to feel loved, honoured, and protected...even though I am not the boss of you,” he smiled,continuing the circular pattern of caresses from her cheekbone, down her neck, across her shoulder and down her arm and back up the same path, “I miss you.”

 

Those three simple words broke through all of Felicity’s walls and silently, her tears began to fall. Flesh is flesh, it heals and it bleeds, she thought, but this...this is love. And it needs to be nurtured and cared for and I am so lucky… 

Oliver immediately moved to gather her to him, and cradled her against his chest and let her cry.

 

“I’m sorry,” she sniffed, “I guess I had some stuff to let go of after all.”

Oliver laughed quietly, “It’s ok. When I need to let go, I work out.”

“Is that why you always do the salmon ladder? Never stop doing that by the way.”

“I was thinking of taking up ballet...OW!” he exclaimed having not stopped her from poking him hard in the ribs.

 “I miss you, too.”

 

Oliver pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head but remained silent, seemingly content to simply hold her.

 

“Come with me,” Felicity said suddenly.

“Where we going?”

“Just get up,” she laughed.

 

Oliver allowed her to pull him to his feet and followed her back to the mirror.

 

“I have to say, I absolutely love the way you lit the mirror,” she said appraising it, “where did you get the idea?”

“I called your hot firemen frien - oof!” he exhaled hard as she landed a well placed elbow, “Remind me to have John ease up on your training.”

“I am never going to hear the end of the hot firemen crack, am I?”

“Nnnnnnnnnope!” he said laughing.

“Fine but remember, I know all your soft spots and if you say I am your soft spot, I swear to God…”

Oliver burst out laughing at that and hugged her tight.

 

“Ok, what do you want to show me?” he asked

“Us.”

 

He pulled back and looked her puzzled.

“Us?”

“Yes.”

 

She turned them so that they were facing each other in front of the mirror. With slightly shaking hands, she undid his shirt and slipped it off his shoulders. She could feel tremors running through his body.

“You have always been so free with how you show us your scars, not worrying about us seeing them,” she said with genuine reverence, “you wear them like a badge of honour or a warning sign.”

“I...I guess I am used to them. I never really think about them any more,” he said quietly with a slight hitch in his voice. She was tracing the shark bite scar with the lightest of touches. It sent an electric jolt straight to his core. She knows exactly what she is doing, he thought, she knows exactly how her touch affects me.

 

Without moving away from him, she undid her blouse and let it fall to the floor. Oliver glanced in the mirror and saw the scars she was so intent on hiding. With as much tenderness he muster, he gently reached behind her, unzipped her skirt and watched it drop to the ground. Felicity, feeling slightly exposed under his gaze, helped him shed his pants.

 

“There,” she smiled up at him, “we’re somewhat equal.”

“We’ve never been equal,” he said, “you’ve always been the best part of this.”

 

Oliver took her face in his hands and drew her into a kiss that began tenderly, as though her lips would bruise if he pressed too hard, but at her insistence, became passionate and searching. She ran her tongue between his teeth and upper lip, pushing him, coaxing him to touch her but instead he pulled away and turned so that they were looking at each other in the lit mirror.

 

“Yes?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered and took his hand and lead him back to their bed.

 

She wasn’t sure what to expect once Oliver got an up close look at the bullet wound and subsequent incision but she was wonderfully surprised and awed by what he did.

 

He drew her down onto the bed and laid beside her so that he could look down her body. He began tracing her body again with his fingertips in a series of growing concentric circles until he reached the top of her incision.

 

He looked at her with the question, “Can I?” in his eyes, she nodded, and he lowered his head so that he could reach it with his mouth.

He alternated tracing it with the tip of his tongue and kissing it with the softest of kisses. The change in texture and temperature sent shiver and jolts of electric heat through her body. A small, breathy moan escaped her as she gripped his hair in a tight fist.

Oliver spent what felt like an eternity memorizing the scars with this hands and mouth. She lost track of just how many time he would kiss her, gently thrusting his tongue into her mouth, before dipping his head to trace and kiss her healing wound all over again.

Somehow he had managed to undo and remove her bra. She was sure he used magic because she had no memory of the actual event. This allowed him to travel the length of her body from her lips to her breasts to her scars and back. His hand would remain curled around her hips when he was memorizing her scars with his mouth but his thumbs would caress them gently as he sucked and licked her nipples and probed her mouth with his tongue.

She was still unsure about the act of sex itself but she was ready to find out if she was actually ready. Oliver knew she was hesitant and it was because of her new relationship with her body so he was taking his time.

 

“I know that your body is new to you now,” he whispered huskily, “but I love you and your body. No matter what.”

“Promise?”

“Promise,” he smiled as he hooked his thumb into the elastic waistband of her panties and pulled them down, “even when you are 90.”

 

She smiled at him then and helped him take the last of her clothes off.

“I don’t know if my body is ready for…” she trailed off blushing.

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” he assured her, “let’s just see where this goes tonight.”

 

And with that he slid hand between her legs and lightly ran his fingers down her length. She knew he could feel how hot and wet she was, but he drew in a deep breath and reigned in his desire.

He used to fingers to open her up so that he could reach her entrance and circle around and around it. Teasing her with where his fingers were going to end up until he gently slid two fingers into her and then back out. He repeated the lazy circular pattern until she held his hand where it was and ground her hips against it. She loved the feel of his fingers as they moved in and out of her body.

 

“Oh God, Oliver,” she breathed, “I have missed you.”

 

Still lying face to face, Oliver kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth in time with his fingers. Her body was beginning to feel like it was hers again. She used her breath to control her response to Oliver’s touch. She had been hyper aware of his hands and mouth on her scars, now all she felt were his fingers sliding in and out of her and how much she wanted him.

 

“Felicity…” he growled.

“Whenever I am lost, you always manage to find me,” she murmured into his ear, “you are my peace of mind.”

Oliver looked into her eyes, gently smoothed the hair off of her face and said, “And you are mine.”

Felicity looked into Oliver's eyes and was inspired by what she saw and remembered how the deep blue in his eyes perfectly reflected the night sky in the desert all those months ago and she wanted nothing more than to reconnect to him in their special place in the sky. He was helping her fix the unknown wrong within her.

Careful of the twinges she still felt internally, Felicity looped her top leg over his and slid in closer to him, rubbing his hard length through her wet one eliciting a deep, primal moan from Oliver. She felt the way his hands tightened in her hair and pulled in home. 

______________________________________________________________________

 

The next morning, Felicity was still nestled into his side. She was snoring slightly but still asleep. Oliver felt renewed, rejuvenated after the night before but then he surveyed the room, saw the discarded clothes and remains of their carb heavy meal and wanted nothing more than to pull the duvet up over his head and rejoin her.

 

“It’s your turn to clean up,” came a sleepy voice from next to him.

“Right. How do you figure?”

An arm came out from underneath the duvet and emphatically and wildly pointed at her side. “Injured, remember?”

Rolling his eyes, Oliver said, “You get to play that card exactly never again. Especially after last night.”

Her musical laugh rose up to meet him, “That was just part of my rehabilitation. I need to get moderate exercise and that, my love, was moderate.”

“Remind me to talk to your doctor about her definition of moderate.”

“She will tell you I am right.”

“Ok, but you have to make your own breakfast.”

“Oh goodie! I can introduce you to my hot firemen friends!”

“Can they cook?”

“Oliver!” she laughed.

“Are you feeling ok?”

“Better than ok, I feel….like life is going to be kind again.”

“You are remarkable, Felicity Smoak,” he said with a voice full of weighty love.

“I love you, too.”

And with that, much to her delight, he dove back under the covers seeking out the warm confines of her body.

  



End file.
